Harold Robert Johnson, the first African American dean at the University of Michigan, died Oct. 13 at the age of 99 at his home in Ann Arbor, after a short illness.

Dean Johnson, a native of Windsor, Ontario, was a community organizer and labor activist in both Windsor and Detroit before he joined the U-M faculty in 1969 as professor of social work and head of the Community Organization Program. In short order, Johnson became a leading advocate for equal rights at U-M, a role he would reprise numerous times over his career. 

Upon arrival in Ann Arbor, Professor Johnson quickly emerged as a campus leader on multiple fronts, including the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty. He possessed the unique ability to work cooperatively within the existing power structure of the university while continually urging administrators to effect change and advance equality of opportunity for all members of the University community. 

After serving on multiple faculty committees, Johnson was elected as the first African American chairman of the University Senate in 1975. He was appointed director of the Institute of Gerontology in 1975 and revitalized it to become one of the most respected academic programs in the field of aging, developing several cooperative research and instructional programs with universities in Europe and Asia. Johnson’s research and publications on gerontology, community organization practices, juvenile justice, and numerous other public policy matters crossed decades.

During his tenure at U-M, Professor Johnson served on dozens of committees essential to the effective functioning of the university, including as chairman of the Search Committee on the Presidency in 1978-79. Johnson was also a consultant and adviser to governmental, professional, scientific and political organizations such as the Michigan Commission on Criminal Justice. 

In 1981, Professor Johnson was named dean of the School of Social Work, and over the next 12 years, exercising decisive leadership, he transformed it into the top-ranked social work school in the United States. 

The school was his passion, his North Star, and ultimately his greatest legacy at the university. By the end of his tenure, Dean Johnson, and by extension the school, enjoyed an outsized position of influence in the field of social work. 

Indeed, with his formidable skills in negotiation, Dean Johnson not only elevated and nurtured the School of Social Work into greater prominence, but also inspired and trained generations of future leaders at the university. For decades after his retirement in 1996, Johnson provided sage counsel to faculty, deans, and administrators across the university campus and the wider academic landscape.

In 1993, Dean Johnson joined the central administration as special counsel to President James Duderstadt. In his last official full-time role at U-M, Dean Johnson served as the interim secretary of the university, before retiring in 1996.

In recognition of his leadership in promoting equal rights at the university and throughout society, a program to honor several faculty each year for extraordinary achievements in advancing diversity was established in his name in 1996 as the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Awards. 

In 1953, Johnson married Marion Cowie, with whom he enjoyed 49 years of marriage. They raised three children and were blessed with three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. After Marion’s death, Johnson married Dorothy Warshaw Saxner. They enjoyed retired life together in Ann Arbor and Sarasota until she preceded him in death in 2017.

A celebration of Harold’s life will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. Dec. 10 at the School of Social Work. RSVP via this form.